Your weekly trip with me, your mentally ill yoga instructor, through the wonderful world of therapy.
Post therapy aftercare – you may not at this point have needed this but possibly will do as things get more serious or intense in your conversations with your therapist. Be aware of what you have planned after therapy, for me it can be exhausting (emotionally as well as physically) & I often can’t, or don’t want to do a lot. Maybe ensure you have an easy meal or snacks to hand, & partake in some self care (whatever that looks like for you). Scheduling your therapy at the end of or after your work day may also be advantageous (or clear your schedule after if you are able).
Week Two – depending on your therapy style you may begin this week by continuing with your history, profile, incidents etc or you’ll be asked for a check in, what’s been going on or what you want to discuss this week. Each style has a different approach to structure & your therapist should go through this with you, particularly if you’re doing a short “course” of therapy to deal with something specific.
As always I enjoy homework so I’m reading some books related to the topics brought up in my sessions. I’ll compile a list & the areas they relate to (if not clear) in a resources section.
A couple of interesting things from this week: The Drama Triangle, a cycle I recognise, you may too. We may at one time or another take part in (by acting out or being exposed to) toxic behaviours that fall into three styles Victim, Persecutor & Saviour, where we blame ourselves for everything, blame someone else for everything or try to fix everyone. Important to note that these are TOXIC extreme behaviours that are not fixed, you may well recognise an abuser who uses the whole cycle (blaming you for their abuse as you’re a “terrible” person, but they’re so broken they don’t mean to hurt you, they love you, & they may then try to fix themselves or you. But fail & restart the cycle. Or you may recognised aspects of yourself in this. We can break these cycles through a change in behaviour, then a change in thinking (beahvious is significantly easier to change then our brain!)
More recogniseable in me is the concept of People Pleasing……. This will be a future topic. Probably many times.
Dark Moon Yoga 